


Midnight and Masquerade

by Niconsernetta



Series: A Nation of Glass [4]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, F/M, Faeries - Freeform, Mages, Magic, Minotaur - Freeform, Other, Shapeshifters - Freeform, Succubi & Incubi, Trolls, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-09
Updated: 2016-03-09
Packaged: 2018-05-25 18:51:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6206530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Niconsernetta/pseuds/Niconsernetta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She is ignoring him studiously and he knows it. He knows that she has been aware of, and avoiding his presence all night but now he’s cornered her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Midnight and Masquerade

**Author's Note:**

> This work was originally posted on the blog at: https://niconsernetta.wordpress.com/2014/10/28/midnight-and-masquerade/
> 
>  
> 
> [](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)  
> Midnight and Masquerade by [Niconsernetta](https://niconsernetta.wordpress.com/) is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).  
> Based on a work at <https://niconsernetta.wordpress.com/2014/10/28/midnight-and-masquerade/>.  
> Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at <http://archiveofourown.org/works/6206530/chapters/14218615>.

She is ignoring him studiously and he knows it. He knows that she has been aware of, and avoiding his presence all night but now he’s cornered her.

The fortified walls of Masquerade prevented him from utilizing many of the skills that he’d carefully cultivated to pick up women. Tonight had been the first real test of his talents as a self-proclaimed ladies’ man and he’d quickly learned that his artificially sculpted body and pick-up lines fell as flat around the women who frequented the lounge.

Unlike his usual hunting grounds all of Masquerade was cloaked in some of the most intricate and detailed warding that he had ever seen. It had wrapped around him seamlessly like a whisper of wind and remained thin and delicate to the touch like spider silk but infinitely than any metal alloy that humes had ever created. The spells were interwoven so tightly and were worded so specifically that he was sure that it could pick up even the simplest of glamour used in place of actual make-up. In most clubs the warding was crude and elementary, heavy and like being slapped in the face with scalding hot water the moment that you walked into them, with a little prying he could weasel his way around it and work freely with his bag of magic tricks. Here the warding was incredibly subtle, the difference between a cheese grater wielded by a maniac in some “Saw” imitation movie and the brush of silk across bare skin –they were unidentifiable if you didn’t know what to look for.

He tried mingling and had failed, his experiences seemed exotic to the humes that habituated the places he hunted but among the other populace of the city they were mundane. Stories of his schooling that he’d richly embellished would flop here, tales of wrestling a werewolf who was losing control in the hallways and binding him with magic would instantly set a red flag on him by the group of them settled quite comfortably in a corner. Among the preternatural he was average and his attempts to be anything but average were pathetic.

Just as he had considered leaving he had seen her and instantly keyed onto what she was if not who just yet. He’d seen the more erratic males often, prowling in the more sexually charged environments for their next meals, never satisfied and always searching for the next willing bitch to mount like a dog in heat. Many had been disowned and disenfranchised from their clans because they could not control themselves and their impulses; but their females, their females were a completely different story.

While the males could be volatile, slaves to their bestial impulses to gorge themselves, their females were perhaps the most subtle of any species anywhere. The crafty temptresses came in every flavor of attraction, male or female, and were masters of seduction and tease. Intelligent and resourceful they were often followed by anything between a harem of intoxicated clubbers, a squadron of bound humes or a single dedicated thrall depending on the individual’s tastes and personality. But this one, she was alone, and he was just arrogant enough to think that she would come to his bed.


End file.
